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How will this game be remembered? Will it be remembered for its frigid, deadly temperatures? Will it be remembered for the game itself? Will it be remembered at all? As a fan, not a writer, I believe this truly incredible show of human ambition will be remembered forever in National Football League lore. In 40 or so years, The Ice Bowl will be looked back on as one of the greatest games in the history of this great American sport.

When it came time for kickoff, the temperature at Lambeau Field was around negative fifteen degrees, with the wind chill being around negative forty-eight degrees. From what this reporter has heard, the new eighty thousand dollar General Electric field heating system bought from George Halas, Jr. (nephew of Bears owner George Halas aka Papa Bear) had failed before game-time. This created absolutely no heat on the field, which in turn made the field as smooth as ice. Truly dangerous playing conditions, but it makes the game more thrilling in this reporter’s opinion.

If you only watched this game on the television, you cannot imagine the sheer conditions these fine men fought through to play this spectacle of a game. The field was turned to ice, the only things you could see in the stands were the vapor coming from the mouths of the fans, and people were getting frostbite and hypothermia. This was not you’re average football game. This was the Green Bay Packers kind of football. Packers head coach Vince Lombardi would not even let his players wear gloves, according to reports. Regardless, his leadership, along with the play of legendary players such as Bart Starr, Ray Nitschke, Jim Taylor, and Paul Hornung helped lead the Green Bay Packers on an incredible sixty-eight yard drive. This drive, proving the definition of clutch, took the Packers down to the two-yard line where Packers quarterback Bart Starr ran it into the end zone himself. This quarterback sneak will be remembered as one of the all time great sneaks in National Football League history.

The Dallas Cowboys had their share of troubles on the field. For one, Dallas quarterback Don Meredith only through for fifty-eight yards total. His running back threw a fifty-yard touchdown pass, almost matching Meredith’s total for the game. Both Dallas and Green Bay players slipped and fumbled from the field completely covered in a thin layer of ice. With the score 17-14 Dallas and the temperature now down to negative eighteen degrees, Bart Starr constructed a drive, which will be long remembered in both Green Bay Packers lore and NFL lore, as one of the all time great drives. Two big Dallas penalties and a big, seventeen-yard pass from Starr helped lead the Green Bay Packers down to the two-yard line. With sixteen seconds remaining, the Green Bay Offense had run out of ideas. As Vince Lombardi had put it after the game, “We gambled and we won.” Win they did, as Bart Starr ran in for the surprising quarterback sneak. Even with 12 seconds left, the announcers were calling the Green Bay Packers world champions for the third straight year. Will they win the championship in 1968? The look on those men’s faces looked as if they had cheated death itself, but they looked ready to win another championship next year.

Way back in 1958, there was a game played that would be remembered for a very long time for its thrilling content. This game, known as “The Greatest Game Ever Played”, had a first for the NFL when the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants went into the NFL’s first ever sudden death overtime in a playoff game. When you think about it, this isn’t really as exciting as it was back then, seeing as it is not uncommon for NFL games today to go into overtime. However, back in those days, overtime games were not common, and to see a playoff game go into sudden death overtime was truly incredible for the NFL.

Since the beginning of the 1950’s, pro football had been on the rise in popularity. This was especially true in the end of the decade. By the 1960’s, pro football was, and to today still is, America’s favorite sport. Much of the sudden love for football back then came from one particular game. On December 28, 1958, in a cold Yankee Stadium, the 9-3 Baltimore Colts and the 9-3 New York Giants met in the NFL championship to determine who was on top of the pro football world. NBC covered the game on national television, announced by Chris Schenkel and Chuck Thompson. However, an incompetent NBC employee knocked out a cable during the sudden death overtime period. After being out for almost 5 minutes, NBC finally was back on the air, incredibly in time for the next play.

The 1958 NFL Championship featured 15 future Hall of Famers, including legendary quarterback Johnny Unitas and wide receiver Raymond Berry, and 3 Hall of Fame coaches, including then offensive and defensive coaches for the New York Giants Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry. The game also featured its share of mistakes, including six lost fumbles, missed field goals, interceptions, and conservative play-calling. Because of its Hall of Fame standouts and its sudden death overtime, the 1958 NFL Championship would be infamously known as “The Greatest Game Ever Played”.

The game began sloppy for both teams. Turnovers were constant all throughout the game. Legendary Baltimore quarterback Johnny U fumbled the ball when he was strip sacked by future Hall of Fame linebacker Sam Huff. The next play, Don Heinrich, quarterback for the New York Giants, was strip sacked by another future Hall of Fame defensive player, this time Gino Marchetti of the Baltimore Colts. The first quarter didn’t go so well from there. Johnny U was intercepted, the Giants were forced to punt after no movement of the ball, and after getting the ball to the Giant’s 28 yard line, Baltimore’s field goal was blocked. At the end of the first quarter, the score was 3-0 Giants with plenty of turnovers.

The second quarter did not get any better turnover-wise, however points began to appear on the board. After more fumbles by both the Giants and the Colts, the Colt’s running back, Alan Ameche, ran the ball 2 yards into the endzone for the game’s first touchdown. The Giants were about to retaliate when they fumbled again at the Colt’s 10 yard line. Johnny Unitas then marched the Colt’s offense down field and threw one of the many infamous “Johnny Unitas to Raymond Berry” touchdowns. The half ended with the Colts winning by 11, the score being 14-3.

After a failed halfback option by the Baltimore Colts to open the 3rd quarter, the momentum took a huge reversal in favor of the New York Giants. The Giants went down the field 95-yards and ran it in for 6 to cut the lead to 14-10. After a rather turnover-quiet 3rd quarter, the Giants scored another touchdown after 2 big completions, including a 46-yard pass to the TE and a 15-yard TD. The Baltimore Colt’s got into field goal range two drives in a row, coming up empty in both attempts. The score remained 17-14 New York.

Johnny Unitas, staring down defeat square in the eyes, came up with one of the greatest drives in history to put the Colts in field goal range, where they tied the game with 7 seconds left. This drive has been mimicked quite often since then, and now has a common name: the two-minute drill. With the score 17-17 at the end of regulation, the 1958 NFL championship went into sudden death overtime. This was the first time an NFL Playoff game had gone into overtime, though nowadays it isn’t uncommon. Bert Bell, the NFL commissioner of the time, had just applied the rule of sudden death overtime for playoff games, specifically for this game.

The first coin-toss ever for an overtime game was held at midfield, with the New York Giants winning the toss. After forcing New York to punt, Jonny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts put on a drive that would go down as one of the all time best in the history of the NFL. Alan Ameche, on third down from the 1-yard line, powered his way into the endzone, and “The Greatest Game Ever Played” finally came to an end. The Baltimore Colts emerged victorious from the heavyweight fight of an NFL championship, with the final score of 23-17.

The 1958 NFL Championship will forever be recognized as, not only one of the greatest games of all time, but one of the most innovative. This game helped produce such football staples as the two-minute drill and sudden death overtime, as well as some of the greatest plays and drives in NFL lore. “The Greatest Game Ever Played”, aside from featuring so many future Hall of Famers, was the game that really got the NFL popular in America. If not for this game, the National Football League would not be where it is today, standing as the United States’ most popular and well known sport.